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Cardinal Richelieu....thanks for the heads up!!! Is this a bad stock to buy if the "criminals" are manipulating it????
CyberKey/HISC/Apple must have hooked up at the show. JMO, but I think "marketing and sales" agreements between pinkies are just pump and dump PR fodder...but I could be wrong!
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/060119/0106811.html
The bad thing about uplisting is the SEC filings....all the dilution, CD's, lack of revs, burn rate, etc., will be out in the open....IMO.
Two pink pigs in a poke?????
OT: Unfunny Money: Investment and Finance Swindles
Larry Chisholm's friend was making money playing the stock market. And she shared with Chisholm the secret of her success: She was following the advice of an anonymous tipster who posted suggestions on the message boards hosted by the financial Web site Raging Bull.
The tipster was singing the praises of E-pawn.com, a Florida-based Web site.
Chisholm, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, admits that he knew virtually nothing about researching stocks, but the things he read about E-pawn on Raging Bull's board convinced him to buy in big. According to the tipster, "They were going to be like EBay," he remembers.
Anonymous tipsters in stock scams may be con men themselves or innocent dupes caught up in the excitement.
So Chisholm, retired facilities manager for a technology consulting firm, bought a block of stock at $6.50 per share. The price went up to $8.50 and then started to decline. As it sank, Chisholm figured it was a chance to buy more E-pawn cheap. He spent $41,809 to buy 17,100 shares. The value of his stock now? About $800.
Chisholm was the victim of a pump-and-dump--a scheme in which con artists use the Internet to fraudulently promote the stock, then sell their shares for a big profit, according to a federal indictment from the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York.
This pump-and-dump had a particularly sinister twist, government officials say: It was run in part by the Mob. In the indictment, U.S. attorneys allege that two principals of E-pawn and a stock promoter went for help to DMN Capital Investments. That investment house worked with known Mafia members to commit stock fraud, another federal indictment alleges.
Last summer, the FBI charged 120 people, including members of the five organized-crime families of La Cosa Nostra, with securities fraud and related crimes. E-pawn was 1 of 35 companies that federal officials say the Mob helped to manipulate. Those frauds cost innocent investors approximately $50 million.
The case taught Larry Chisholm a hard lesson. Now he does his homework before investing his money, and he ignores the advice he sees on message boards. "Investment message boards will probably be the cause of more people losing their shirts and jumping off the bridge than anything else," says Chisholm.
Beware of anyone on an investment message board who claims to have inside information, says Barry R. Goldsmith, executive vice president of NASD Regulation, which oversees the securities industry. Sham tipsters will say, "You're going to miss the boat, you have to buy quickly before the news gets out," he warns.
Instead, do thorough research before putting your money in any company, Goldsmith recommends. Good places to start include SmartMoney.com, Forbes.com, BusinessWeek.com, Hoovers.com, Morningstar.com,........
http://pcworld.about.com/magazine/1905p107id44671.htm
Greeneye...nope, haven't bought yet...I'll let you collect all the dump $$$ on this one. I've got all my oil and gas $$$$ tied up in good companies right now, but I'm learning a lot from the pros on this board!!!! I have a big problem with "30 year oilfield experienced" people saying drilling in two weeks and no drilling in 4 months.....was their 30 year experience in driving the oil field lunch wagon????? Good luck to you and thanks to you and others for showing me how the "right" DD can rope 'em in!!! LOL!!!! Any ideas for a revenue bet from this BDC????
Iran Sanctions Could Drive Oil Past $100
Sunday January 22, 6:39 pm ET
By Brad Foss and George Jahn, Associated Press Writers
Oil Could Top $100 a Barrel if U.N. Imposes Sanctions on Iran Over Nuclear Program
A surge in oil prices last week to almost $70 a barrel on concerns about the restart of Iran's nuclear program only hints at what may lie ahead.
Prices could soar past $100 a barrel, experts say, if the U.N. Security Council authorizes trade sanctions against the Middle Eastern nation, which the West accuses of trying to make nuclear bombs, and Iran curbs oil exports in retaliation. A sharp global economic slowdown could follow.
That's the dilemma the United States and European nations face as they decide whether to act. But Iran would also pay a hefty price if the petro-dollars that now represent 80 percent of export revenues are reduced, potentially stirring civil unrest in a nation with a 14 percent unemployment rate.
"They would shoot themselves in the foot," said Mustafa Alani, director of national security and terrorism studies at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center. "It's one thing to test the market psychology, it's another to take the actual step and stop oil exports."
Iran, the second-largest oil producer within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, exports roughly 2.5 million barrels per day -- 1 million barrels more than current excess production capacity worldwide. It also controls the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane in the Middle East.
"Even if Iran pulled a small amount of its oil off the market, say it pulled a half million barrels a day, I could see oil prices literally jumping over the $100 per barrel mark," said James Bartis, a senior researcher at Rand Corp.
But other oil analysts say prices would likely not climb much higher than $75 a barrel before strategic reserves would be released and demand would begin to taper off as economic activity slowed around the world.
So who would be hurt more? The United States and other nations say it would be Tehran and argue against succumbing to economic blackmail in any case. "We cannot be intimidated by economic threats from their side," Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss, told CNN.
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that oil exports finance about half of the Iranian government's budget. And while high oil prices have boosted the annual growth rate to about 5 percent, Iran has never really recovered from its 1980-1988 war against Iraq and trade restrictions on sensitive technologies. The Iran Nonproliferation Act, which the U.S. Congress passed in 2000, deters international support for Iran to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and missile-delivery systems.
For weeks, Iran's state television has sought to show a people united behind the leadership, showing passer-by on Tehran city streets expressing their support for the country's strivings for nuclear independence.
Still, Alani of the Gulf Research Center questioned "whether the ordinary citizens will be willing to risk sanctions and endure a lot of suffering like the Iraqis suffered for 13 years" under U.N. sanctions.
Oil consuming nations, meanwhile, have at least one ace up their sleeves -- crude reserves. The United States and other members of the International Energy Agency have a combined 1.48 billion barrels of oil in their emergency stocks. That's equivalent to about 600 days of Iran's net oil exports of 2.4 million barrels per day.
OPEC might be able to add 1.5 million barrels per day to world production, mostly from Saudi Arabia. And oil analyst Fadel Gheit at Oppenheimer & Co. in New York said Russia might be able to crank up exports by about 500,000 barrels once its domestic home-heating demand eases.
Gregory L. Schulte, chief U.S. delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency, accused Iran last week of deceiving the world about its atomic program, declaring that moves to haul it before the U.N. Security Council were meant to deny "the most deadly of weapons to the most dangerous of countries."
His comments were part of increasing international pressure on Iran since it removed seals from uranium enrichment equipment earlier in the month and said it would start small scale work on the process that can make both fuel and the fissile core of nuclear warheads.
"It's a very difficult situation where you don't know which side is going to blink first," said Leonard Spector, deputy director of the Monterey Institute of International Studies' Center for Nonproliferation Studies.
It's also not clear the United States could win a referral on sanctions at the Security Council, where members Russia and China are Iran's main allies. Both have strong economic and strategic ties to Iran, with China a large oil consumer and drilling partner and Russia a key supplier of arms and nuclear technology and services for what Tehran says is a peaceful program. Additionally, oil-rich Russia would benefit from higher prices and increased demand for its crude if Iran's oil were off the market.
Influential India, which imports 75 percent of the crude it consumes, some from Iran, is a wild card in the referral struggle.
It joined the U.S., Britain, France and Germany in September to back an IAEA resolution that set the stage for reporting Iran for violating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. But pressure is building on the Indian government not to vote against Iran when the 35-nation IAEA board meets Feb. 2 to consider actual referral.
"India must not allow itself to be dragooned into joining the Washington-led nuclear lynch mob against Iran," The Hindu, one of India's most influential newspapers, cautioned Thursday. "Aside from the lack of any legal basis for threatening Iran with sanctions, India should consider what the U.S. pressure on Tehran will do to international oil prices as well as to the overall security scenario in West Asia."
The United States and its allies are thought to have the majority behind them on any vote for referral. Still they would like to see India, China and Russia on board -- all three countries carry weight among other IAEA board nations, and Moscow and Beijing have a vote on the Security Council on what to do about Iran, once it is referred.
Associated Press Writers Alex Nicholson in Moscow, Constant Brand in Brussels, Laurence Frost in Paris, Nirmala George in New Delhi and Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran contributed to this report. Brad Foss reported from Washington, George Jahn from Vienna, Austria.
OT: Re RB: "..."We have been working with several former Lycos employees that have signed affidavits to the effect that they were told, ordered (and they provided vettable emails) to "kick off" critical posters".
That sounds about right to me....RB is a hot bed of pumpers & dumpers and stock promoters and I guess they paid to get posters banned that questioned any company being pumped and dumped. Rickguy is the most recent example that I know of...I read his posts on the AMEP board...his were much less "TOS-able" than many of the pumpers there. I hope they shut RB down.....Yahoo was smart to keep message boards away from the OTC and pinkie stocks.
Hongcouver...I think I just view "startup" companies differently than you do. I view successful startups as those that develop a business as a private company with real fundamentals then go public to raise funds for continued expansion....see GOOG, very interesting history. I find it very strange that early investors in FASC that have been diluted to death continue to hang on by their fingernails and can't stand anything negative said about the company. What's the motto on the new DSMF-777...."Built on the Backs, Sweat, and Tears of Shareholders"??????? And the backorders for that piece of equipment are???????????
corazondeoro...I'm afraid you have it wrong according to the board... I'm trying to steal the KDS technology (maybe for GE???) or, trying to get in cheap and day trade, trying to protect investors out of the goodness of my heart...did I miss anything??? But I'm really welcome here because "Bashers only bash good companies!!!" LOL!!! Actually, following these boards really helps in determining investor psychology in the markets....it wouldn't surprise me in the least to see FASC pps double if they release a good enough fluffy.....
Right...those big, bad companies do things like this and the liberals scream about them...and (OH MY GOD!!!!) they do it for profits!!!
Gas Leak Prompts High-Tech Detection Tools
Saturday January 21, 12:24 pm ET
By Jeff Donn, Associated Press Writer
Costly Leaks From Natural Gas Pipelines Prompt Scramble for New, High-Tech Detection Tools
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -- A single-engine plane eases into the sky above the corn and onion fields west of Rochester, and its underside opens like the bay of a World War II bomber.
The gap exposes an eight-inch opaque glass prism that fixes on the landscape below, like a bug's round eye.
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It hides three lasers that pulse to the ground and reflect back 1,000 times a second while the plane cruises at 750 feet and 135 mph. It carries a digital camera ready to snap photographs automatically every three seconds.
Pilot Tim Dills stares at a monitor to keep the plane on a course set by computer. It traces the path of an underground pipeline. The high-tech equipment on board is prowling for leaks of natural gas.
Far too much of the increasingly valuable commodity vanishes into thin air, and efforts like this, inaugurated recently by ITT Industries, are on the cutting edge of slowing the loss.
"This has been what I've always looked for," says Dills from his warm cockpit during the flight in wintry western New York.
"Here, we're in a position where we see everything," he says. "This is a quantum leap forward."
Dills, a longtime pilot whose glass eye testifies to a low-altitude crash during a stunt roll as a teenager, knows firsthand how gas-leak detection has evolved.
He made the journey from crop duster to celebrity transport for the likes of Ben Affleck and Shania Twain, and then to corporate piloting. Flying for an oil company, he would glide high above pipeline inspectors who slogged the Alaskan bush tracking invisible leaks of natural gas with post-World War II technology.
Now he now pilots 2,000 pounds of advanced electronics worth millions of dollars.
A ground crew converts signals generated by the invisible, computer-aimed laser light into pictures of each gas leak; these are then superimposed on the aerial photographs.
Like little oil slicks, leaks show up in a rainbow of colors. Red signals the heaviest concentration.
For the first time, this question can be answered at a glance: Where is America's missing fuel?
The United States has 2.3 million miles of natural gas pipeline. Laid end-to-end, the pipes, mostly carrying methane, would circle the equator 92 times.
Errant bulldozers, imperfect seals, and other mishaps, disasters and defects cause leaks. But why fret over the wasted gas that is blown off into the air, usually harmlessly? After all, it only amounts to about 1.5 percent, according to industry and government estimates.
That percentage may sound trifling, but it's not. The country burns so much gas -- more than 22 trillion cubic feet a year -- that the leakage could fuel about 4 million more homes, government statistics indicate. The global supply is estimated to last only 70 more years.
Beyond economics, there are environmental and safety reasons for finding leaks. Methane is a greenhouse gas that traps heat and may contribute to global warming. And gas can cause powerful explosions, though they are rare.
Government standards mandate leak surveys up to four times a year along pipelines, which typically run 2-4 feet underground. Some are old and prone to corroding -- there is still century-old cast iron under some Eastern streets. Almost $20 billion is needed just to replace existing pipe by the end of the next decade, according to one industry study.
The first long-distance gas pipelines, originally of hollowed wood, were run in the late 19th century. Until the 1950s, leak checking meant digging holes, sometimes through streets, because detectors weren't sensitive enough to read above ground.
Then along came a nimble little gadget with a ponderous name: the flame ionization detector, FID, or sniffer.
Sniffers, which burn gas samples in a little flame and measure the electrical charges, are portable and sensitive, though their drawbacks are also well known: They can sample only a single point at a time and only within gas clouds.
Still, they became the unchallenged standard until the late 1990s, when the industry saw a burst of technological progress.
"The real nifty thing ... is to be able to detect huge amounts of pipeline at a time," says Michael Clayton, who oversees the airborne surveillance project for ITT Industries. The company says it can survey up to 1,000 miles of pipeline per day.
The new generation of detectors exploits the basic wave properties of light. Methane gas, like other distinct molecules, absorbs its own set of specific wavelengths and no others, vibrating like the strings of a guitar with its own unique tuning.
The new scanners typically beam invisible infrared light -- sometimes concentrated into laser strength -- at wavelengths absorbed only by methane or some other component of natural gas. If there's no natural gas in the air, the signal stays powerful. If natural gas is present, it absorbs the light energy and weakens the signal, setting off an alarm.
The first such detectors recaptured their own light from about six feet away, like a ball juggled at the speed of light from one hand to another. They gave an almost instant reading, allowing inspectors to motor along at 25 mph. But their vehicles still had to pass through the gas cloud, which was often impossible on rough terrain or near buildings.
"In a city, it takes forever," says engineer Paul Beckendorf at the Gas Technology Institute, which does research for the industry.
The next step came just last spring, when handheld remote detectors reached market. They let inspectors detect leaks quickly and safely from outside the cloud.
Understandably, remote detectors risk missing smaller leaks, because they sense at a distance. However, they are becoming more sensitive. At Lasen, a company in Las Cruces, N.M., some customers have asked that the helicopter-mounted detector be turned down, says physicist Egor Degtiarev.
The problem? It sometimes detects methane from flatulent cows.
"Right now, this is where we are," says Dills, as he banks his plane toward the airport with snow clouds blowing in. He's not talking about the plane, but about leak-testing technology.
He and others see many more improvements ahead. Dills, for instance, envisions that remote-control drones will eventually do the work of finding leaks.
And those imagining the next generation of detectors ask: Since lasers are a form of light, why can't plain daylight detect natural gas?
Turns out, it can.
In Edmonton, Canada, Synodon is building a camera-like detector that analyzes ordinary reflected daylight from a helicopter at 1,000 feet. It scans for missing wavelengths of natural gas, says Synodon CEO Adrian Banica.
For a stratospheric panorama, the National Energy Technology Laboratory has considered lifting such airborne imaging up to 80,000 feet high on balloons or circling drones. "All of a sudden it takes very few of these sensors to cover the entire United States," said a government physicist who spoke on condition of anonymity under Energy Department rules.
Another government project has aimed at finding leaks from space, sensing them from nearby plants when their roots are choked by natural gas. The damage shows up in certain wavelengths of light.
"In order to realistically monitor a pipeline network, you need ... satellites," says physicist William L. Pickles at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. "It's impractical to be able to be out flying these pipelines all the time."
However, such systems might never be sensitive enough to uncover small leaks quickly. Also, air and ground systems can be tricked, because gas can stray as it rises to the surface.
The ultimate detector would prowl inside pipes, pinpoint leaks or potential leaks, and automatically map them.
Some engineers have started to toy with the idea of very small robots -- maybe even microscopic particles -- to home in on trouble spots and instantaneously clue inspectors to their whereabouts.
General Electric Co. has begun early work on self-propelled, smart robots with existing magnetic or ultrasound sensing that would nose through pipeline twists and bottlenecks and maybe decide to linger where leaks are most likely, says Michael Simmons, a manager at GE's pipeline services unit.
"Can we imagine a point in time where technology is used in such a way that it reduces the risk so far as to be minuscule? Yeah, I think so," he says.
Future pipelines might even carry built-in sensors to alert to rusting, cracking or outright leaks. "That in my mind is ultimate technology," says engineer Christina Sames at the industry's American Gas Association.
Inspectors would park themselves indoors, warm and safe, keeping the country's fuel flowing. And Dills might have to go back to crop dusting.
EDITOR'S NOTE -- Jeff Donn is AP's Boston-based Northeast writer.
Looking at CRAY and VDSI.... CRAY (super computers) looking at a good year in 2006, turnaround play? VDSI (identity authentication products, etc.) showing steady growth. See what they do this week with volatile markets....
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=VDSI
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=cray
TRCPA...utitities/governments' participation should be only as providing tax credits or making it easy and cheap to tie into the grid. Profits drive business...if something really needs to get done, put the incentives in the marketplace and companies will run with it. GE (again!! LOL!), the oil companies are already involved in alternative energy...check their websites and they have the money and smarts to do it. "Alternative energy", "Homeland Security", etc., companies pop up overnight to pump and dump...it's a real shame, IMO....
cyberbubba...all I know about the shareholders' meeting is what has been reported by posters like yourself. Sounds like a big circle-jerk to me.... The "street" seems to think so too....when is that Amex listing??????
"Biophan is far from a penny stock pump....JMHO"
Well, it's a penny stock on the OTC and I don't see anything in the fundamentals that says it's anything other than a "pump".
Which part of the fundamentals do you like best??
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=BIPH.OB
Port Insecurity Special Report: Points of entry
07/25/05; Vol. 24 No. 20
By Patience Wait
GCN Staff
Authentication is key to controlling access at ports, but implementing systems is a complex puzzle
The main entrance to the Port of Savannah looks a lot like a toll plaza on the New Jersey Turnpike.
A long row of tollbooths serves as a barricade to the lines of trucks that queue up, waiting to get in. As the truck drivers pull up to each booth, they present their orders to clerks sitting in the kitchen, the nickname for the dispatch room, a quarter-mile away.
“This is when the drivers ring the doorbell, so to speak,” said Robert Morris, director of external affairs for the Georgia Ports Authority, which governs Savannah and three other ports in the state.
Via remote cameras, the operators verify that the pick-up orders match the shipments waiting in the yard, and confirm that the driver’s name and truck and trailer numbers all match the orders. Once confirmed, printed tickets tell the drivers where to pick up their loads among the ever-shifting stacks in the shipyard.
Those pieces of paper are important, because the pathways inside the port to the docks appear and disappear within hours, as four- and five-high stacks of containers are moved and rearranged. To keep the clerks’ information up to date, dockworkers use personal digital assistants to record the location of the containers as they get shuffled around.
The verification system has cut down on errors significantly, Morris said. As many as 300 truck drivers a day used to have problems with their paperwork, gumming up the lines for other truckers. That number has been cut to 30 a day. And problems that could take hours to straighten out are now usually resolved in less than 30 minutes, he said.
But most important, the system identifies not only the cargo, but the drivers.
Additional improvements are being developed by the Maritime Logistics Innovation Center, a partnership between the Georgia Port Authority, the state’s university system, and the Industry Trade and Tourism De- partment that addresses maritime logistics and security issues. In the works: a wireless system that would let truck drivers transmit manifest information to the port when they’re as far as 10 miles away, said MLIC director Page Siplon.
Human threats
Every improvement helps. The Port of Savannah is the fifth busiest seaport in the country based on container volume, and one of 55 designated as a strategic port by the government, because of its dual role as a commercial and a naval facility.
As at most U.S. ports, authorities in Savannah are turning to technology to improve safeguards not only on the cargo that flows in and out of ports, but increasingly, the people as well.
For instance, the port authority has instituted its own smart-card credentialing and access control program. Everyone who comes to the port is required to apply for a card and must wear it at all times. With the Navy using the facility to ship out troops, Morris said, heightened security only made sense.
Though the federal government has initiated a widely publicized plan for a national Transportation Worker Identification Credential—TWIC for short—Savannah officials decided to put their own system in place until the federal standards have been determined. The TWIC program, which aims to issue IDs to roughly 12 million individuals working in the air, sea, rail, trucking and mass transit industries, has been hampered by delays (see story, Page 16). Morris said Georgia port officials recognized that the money they’ve spent might be a redundant cost once the national standard is determined, but they went ahead with it anyway.
That decision reflects the continuing challenge that ports face in reconciling national demands against local needs.
All of Florida’s 14 ports, for instance, were included in the TWIC pilot program because the state legislature had already passed laws requiring maritime workers to undergo background checks and receive ID cards, according to Louis Noriega, computer services manager for the Port of Miami. The state law also required the ports to implement access control systems, he said.
Florida obtained a memorandum of understanding from the Homeland Security Department guaranteeing that the state’s credentialing program, which uses DHS-provided equipment, would be accepted within TWIC’s eventual standards, Noriega said.
“TSA still calls (the program) a prototype, but Florida is implementing it,” Noriega said.
Coastal burden
Port officials in general give the federal government credit for moving quickly, if erratically, to take steps to protect the cargo shipped into the United States. But actions to provide access control and physical security to the nation’s ports have moved far more slowly.
The disparity is due in part to the separation of security and commerce within DHS. In the aftermath of 9/11, and after decades of neglect and underfunding, the Coast Guard suddenly gained primacy as the organization responsible for providing physical security for the United States’ coastline.
“The adminstration’s budget includes $600 million for infrastructure protection, but it doesn’t include a line item for port security.”
- Sen. Susan Collins (R- Maine)
An attack such as that on the USS Cole in October 2000, where suicide bombers in a Yemeni port pulled up next to the destroyer and triggered explosives, blowing a hole in the side of the ship and killing 17 crew members, is now conceivable within the boundaries of a U.S. port.
Just as conceivable is a container set to detonate on a loading dock, or the ingredients for a nuclear, biological or chemical weapon being smuggled from a container onto a truck and shipped into the nation’s heartland.
These are among the threats the Coast Guard is charged with thwarting, in addition to its traditional maritime duties.
In response, the Coast Guard is pursuing what it calls Maritime Domain Awareness, the knowledge at all times of activities in the global maritime environment that could affect the security, safety, economy or environment of the United States.
“Our experience shows that we’re uniquely positioned—we’re a military service in a civilian department—to bring all the stakeholders together,” said Dana Goward, chief of programs and architecture for MDA.
One component of MDA is the Integrated Deepwater Systems contract, the 20- to 25-year program to completely overhaul the Coast Guard’s aging—in some cases decrepit—fleet and infrastructure. With a price tag estimated to be between $19 billion and $24 billion, it is the most ambitious acquisition program in the history of the agency.
The Deepwater program calls for up- grading the Coast Guard’s command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, commonly called C4ISR. But the program has come under fire from Congress, which has threatened to withhold some funding because lawmakers have not received timely status reports.
Communications overhaul
Another MDA initiative is Rescue 21, a $611 million contract awarded to General Dynamics Corp. in September 2002 to provide a complete overhaul of the Coast Guard’s communications network. The program would enhance VHF-FM and UHF coverage, add digital communications and expand bandwidth—but do it over 19 years.
Port security advocates worry that’s too long to wait.
Another more promising program, born out of the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002, requires the Coast Guard to develop an Automatic Identification System for ships similar to the transponders carried by aircraft. As early as September 2003, the Government Accountability Office expressed concern that “more than half of the 25 busiest U.S. ports” will not have [a fully-functioning system] for the foreseeable future because it requires extensive shore-based equipment and infrastructure that many ports do not have” (www.gcn.com, Quickfind 458).
The Coast Guard’s Goward is much more upbeat about the prospects for the AIS.
“We currently are receiving signals from about 70 percent of the vessels coming to the United States,” he said. “We have [a form of] AIS at all major ports.” In addition, the agency expects to release a request for proposals by the end of this fiscal year or the first quarter of next year to complete the AIS, Goward said.
The Coast Guard also is putting a lot of effort into coordinating Rescue 21 and Deepwater to ensure their interoperability, he said.
“We have to be able to define them as stovepipes, in some ways, because that’s where the money comes from ... and that’s the way we have to contract, to some extent,” Goward said. But the agency is looking at the two programs to see if they can share shore-based communications towers, for instance, and IT channels.
“It initially looks like they can,” he said.
Insufficient funds
While the Coast Guard shoulders the brunt of protecting ships, harbors and shorelines, seaports must take responsibility for securing their dockyards and facilities.
The Coast Guard is charged with assessing the security status of more than 3,000 U.S. port and related facilities and steps needed to improve them. But the cost of making those improvements falls to the ports themselves.
To pay for the changes, ports look to a port security grants program, which has been administered by the DHS Office of State and Local Government Coordination.
The grants program has been criticized for being underfunded, given the magnitude of the challenge, and for failing to meet priorities.
Among those raising concern about the program is Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
“The administration’s budget includes $600 million for infrastructure protection, but it doesn’t include a line item for port security. Yet the Coast Guard has estimated that just complying with [the Maritime Transportation Security Act] would cost $7.3 billion over the next decade,” Collins said in an interview with GCN.
Combined programs
The administration announced plans this year to combine the port security grant program with a critical infrastructure grants program. The move drew complaints, however, that port projects would receive less funding if forced to compete against projects to secure chemical plants, train stations, rail lines and thousands of other critical infrastructure sites throughout the country.
The DHS Inspector General’s Office, meanwhile, faulted the way grants were distributed, in a report issued in January (www.gcn.com, Quickfind 459). The report said that grants were awarded for projects that lacked “clear security-related merit” and that, through four rounds of grant awards, DHS kept changing its definition of “national critical seaport.” DHS also spread funds around to as many ports as possible, rather than concentrating on those at greatest risk, according to the report.
The funds that have been tapped to date are being used for a variety of projects—some basic, others more innovative.
Lockheed Martin Corp. has won several contracts from the Port Authority of New York-New Jersey to improve the security of the bridges and tunnels that fall under the authority’s jurisdiction. SAIC has won other contracts to provide nonintrusive inspection devices at ports around the country, to screen individual containers for radiation.
VistaScape Security Systems Corp. of Atlanta, meanwhile, has been developing software that can automatically monitor the water’s surface along ports, looking for anomalous traffic.
“Typically, ports say, ‘We want to look outward onto the waterside, to make sure that while ships are at port, people don’t attempt to cause them harm,’ ” said Glenn McGonnigle, CEO of VistaScape. “But every port is different in physical size and layout. That’s the beauty of enforcing [security] policy through software—it’s user-configurable.”
The company’s application can take data from a wide range of sensors and devices, he said, and apply analytical rules looking for types of objects, their speed, their size, the direction they’re moving—all the elements a human would be watching for. The application can distinguish and eliminate wave activity, even seagulls flying a few feet above the water’s surface, he said.
Although they can help improve security, technology systems are uncharted water for many ports.
“These customers are incorporating this type of technology in many cases for the first time,” he said. “Frequently they’re not prepared for the ongoing IT administration that this new generation of security systems require. ... It’s something that airports and seaports, along with the systems integrators, are having to get up to speed on.”
Other programs, meanwhile, resemble a Justice Department project in Charleston, S.C., called Project Seahawk. The initiative puts federal, state and local law enforcement officials who have maritime responsibilities into a single facility, including a command center with multiple screens to monitor ships and activities at the port.
Reassessing priorities
But how do federal, state and local authorities tie all these efforts together—and provide the layered defense that Customs and Border Protection is pursuing? And how do officials prioritize among projects, when the money is scarce?
Business-process specialists contend the best approach is one that matches the highest security returns with the practical needs of today’s global supply chain.
Many projects—such as using GPS or chemical, biological or radiation sensors to turn containers into smart boxes—are both expensive and difficult to implement, says Unisys Corp.’s Randy Koch, director of the company’s supply chain solutions practice.
Koch prefers an approach that identifies processes, policies and technologies directly related to security threats and vulnerabilities, that have bang for the buck and that have reasonable odds of being implemented. He also would keep track of which responsibilities are federal, which belong to the port authorities, and which require the involvement of state and local governments or even private enterprise.
Encouraging nations to integrate their customs programs and develop interoperable systems, as endorsed by the World Customs Organization last month, is another step that will improve security, he said.
For the ports themselves, Koch believes emphasis should be on improving emergency response planning, integrating communications systems among the various law enforcement and security forces that cover the waterfront, and completing TWIC enrollments and improving other access controls.
Still, the task of increasing security at the nation’s seaports remains a huge undertaking that continues to suffer from a lack of focus and funding.
“I think this is an extraordinarily important area that has not received the attention it deserves from the administration,” Collins said. “This vulnerability just cries out for attention. When I talk to terrorism experts, the scenario I always hear ... is using container ships to [sneak in] weapons of mass destruction. I’m not trying to say that nothing has been done, but when you look at the funding, and GAO’s criticisms,” the shortfall is evident.
Collins said that she and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) are considering whether the department needs a new office to take the lead in organizing port security efforts.
“I view the Coast Guard as being the lead agency since they have responsibility for MTSA (Maritime Transportation Security Act), but there are an awful lot of agencies involved,” she said.
Collins said Congress must quickly address the issues of funding, priorities and vulnerabilities. DHS appropriations are still being debated in light of secretary Michael Chertoff’s reorganization plan.
“I think we need a dedicated grant program within the Department of Homeland Security that is specifically aimed at port security,” Collins said.
To that end, she has introduced legislation to establish a grants program that would provide $400 million a year over the next five years. Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) has sponsored the same bill on the House side, she said.
“It’s still way short of what the Coast Guard says ports need,” but it’s a start, she said.
http://www.gcn.com/24_20/authentication/36459-1.html
Terry...Outcome remains in doubt??? I don't doubt it...I figure at least one more pump and dump before they increase the OS or reverse split, but that's about it. I see the normal Big Red Flags:
Major dilution for years....
Always "testing"....
No followup biz after fantastic testing results are reported...
Move to overseas "markets" when the local markets doesn't buy it and where investors/SEC have no clue on how the money is being "handled"....
Pay themselves big bonuses using shareholder money and traveling around the world at shareholder expense...
Fantastic interest reported at trade shows, but no followup customers...
On and on and on....
What's really sad to me is DOE, HQ, WRAP....throw money at crap like this and basically participate in screwing shareholders out of their money.......
cyberbubba....well, the chart doesn't look good since everyone had smoke blown up their butts at the SH'ers meeting.
Add-a-patent PR's and adding more money losers to increase the burn rate, $7500 radio interviews to keep the BS going. CEO's busy growing a biz don't really have time for those kind of Bullchit sessions, IMO... But, reading most of the posts on RB and here, Bullchit seems to be a common thread connecting shareholders and company..... Maybe BSX will buy some more shares at $3.00....recent news shows they are good at throwing money at a wall to see if it sticks...
I think Weiner should buy a radio and maybe a TV station..sure would save the company a bunch of pump dollars!!! Too bad he doesn't spend more time actually selling something!! The guy has more air time than the CEO's of the Fortune 500!!! LOL!!!! Tough to give credibility to a big BS artist, IMO...
BTW, didn't he say over a year ago they were going to list on the Amex??? It's really not that hard to do unless the Amex has a problem with fluff PR's...
Worked in Libya in the oil fields back early 80's...the greatest hazard for workers traveling across the desert was getting lost!! The main trails were marked with orange oil drums evey mile or so, but had a habit of being covered by sand dunes. At least two or three people died every year...don't know if they are (or can) use GPS there, but it would be a Godsend! I spent some scary hours finding my way at times. I asked the company about airline-type radio beacons as for downed aircraft...reply was too expensive plus risk of accidental activation would probably prohibit permission for ground use by individuals...
I think GPS for hunters, skiers, hikers, etc. will become a standard in the near future...
Hey Spencer!!! Check back on some old posts if you have time.... Throw out some stocks ideas...others may also have experience with them or see something you may have missed in DD. IMO, this is a VERY gentle board....we are here to help each other or just to "think out loud".... Disagreements are welcome!!! (I think?)....LOL!!! We also like to look at the market and sectors in general. Doubloon is a great moderator and a very experienced investor...
I think "Test Well" means there is a good chance of a dry hole or not being commercial, but don't be mad at us, we said it was a "test"....IMO...
OT: Spencer...took the Chill Pill...it relaxed me so much I peed my pants!!! Thanks a lot!!!
Have you checked out The Hermit’s Hovel board yet???? All types of stocks discussed and helpful posters....much better than the single stock boards where you are sometimes considered just a "pumper" or "basher"...or have a bear-transmitted sexual disease......IMO.....
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=3915
OT: A funny....
Remember the book "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus"? Well, here's a
prime example offered by an English professor at an American
University.
"Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The
process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to
his or her immediate right. One of you will then write the first paragraph
of a short story. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add
another paragraph to the story. The first person will then add a third
paragraph, and so on back and forth. Remember to re-read what has been
written each time in order to keep the story coherent. There is to be
absolutely NO talking and anything you wish to say must be written on the >paper. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached."
The following was actually turned in by two of my English students:
Rebecca - last name deleted, and Gary - last name deleted.
----------------------------------------------------------------
STORY: (first paragraph by Rebecca)
At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she wanted. The
chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now
reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he
liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind
off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him
too much her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the
question.
-----------------------------------------------------------
(second paragraph by Gary)
Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron
now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about than
the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with whom he had
spent one sweaty night over a year ago. "A.S. Harris to Geostation 17," he
said into his transgalactic communicator. "Polar orbit established. No sign
of resistance so far..." But before he could sign off a bluish particle
beam
flashed out of nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship's cargo bay.
The
jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the
cockpit.
----------------------------------------------------------
(Rebecca)
He bumped his head and died almost immediately but not before he felt one
last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who had ever
had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless
hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon. "Congress Passes Law
Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel," Laurie read in her newspaper
one morning. The news simultaneously excited her and bored her. She stared
out the window, dreaming of her youth, when the days had passed unhurriedly
and carefree, with no newspapers to read, no television to distract her
from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her.
"Why must one lose one's innocence to become a woman?" she pondered
wistfully.
---------------------------------------------------------
(Gary)
Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to live. Thousands
of miles above the city, the Anu'udrian mothership launched the first of
its
lithium fusion missiles. The dim-witted wimpy peaceniks who pushed the
Unilateral Aerospace Disarmament Treaty through congress had left Earth a
defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who were determined to
destroy the human race. Within two hours after the passage of the treaty
the
Anu'udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to
pulverize the entire planet. With no one to stop them, they swiftly
initiated their diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the
atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret Mobile submarine
headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam, felt the
inconceivably massive explosion which vaporized poor, stupid, Laurie and 85
million other Americans. The President slammed his fist on the conference
table. "We can't allow this! I'm going to veto that treaty! Let's blow 'em
out of the sky.
----------------------------------------------------------
(rebecca)
This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My
writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic semi-literate adolescent.
----------------------------------------------------------
(gary)
Yeah? Well, you're a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at
writing are the literary equivalent of Valium. "Oh shall I have camomile
tea? Or shall I have some other sort of F*CKING TEA??? Oh no, I'm such an
air headed bimbo who reads too many Danielle Steele novels."
----------------------------------------------------------
(rebecca)
#######.
----------------------------------------------------------
(gary)
Bitch.
----------------------------------------------------------
(rebecca)
W*nker.
----------------------------------------------------------
(gary)
####.
----------------------------------------------------------
(rebecca)
Get f*cked.
----------------------------------------------------------
(gary)
Eat shiot.
----------------------------------------------------------
(rebecca)
F*CK YOU - YOU NEANDERTHAL!!!
----------------------------------------------------------
(gary)
Go drink some tea - #####..
**********************************************
(teacher)
A+ - I really liked this one.
nlightn...to be honest, it wasn't a "great play" for me, just an azz saver!!! LOL!! I bought the Jan 35 Call in 2005 when IGT was in the under $30 range believing it to be oversold based on possible new biz in states like PA, plus it is a good company anyway. My cost was about 90 cents and watched the option drop much lower as the time factor kicked in (who are those guys that say never average down!!). Luckily, IGT trended up to the earnings date a couple of days ago, then spiked at the good earnings.....hence my azz was saved!! I sold at the bid of $1.15 when I got home, as soon as I sold, of course it went higher, but by the end of the day I looked smart and not piggish!!!
Short term I bought some TSN Puts at $15 thiinking the increasing bird flu news and so-so earnings would drive it there by January.....TSN closed over $16 yesterday and the option expired worthless. My son was smarter (so far), he bought the TSN April Puts.....maybe he will do better....
THE GREAT GAS SHORTAGE
by Elliott H. Gue
Editor, The Energy Letter
January 20, 2006
Throughout the 1990s, roughly 90 to 95 percent of all new power plants constructed in the US were natural gas fired. The conventional wisdom was that North America had plenty of natural gas to satisfy demand.
After all, total proven gas reserves for North America stand at roughly 260 trillion cubic feet while annual consumption is on the order of 2.75 trillion cubic feet. A simple back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests nearly a century's worth of consumption. That certainly compares favorably to the crude oil market, where more than 10 million barrels per day--more than 3.6 billion barrels annually--of North American consumption must be covered by imports from abroad.
But the truth about the natural gas market should now be apparent. North America doesn't have enough gas production to cover current demand; natural gas isn't the panacea that many promoted back in the ‘90s. Even a rather temporary disruption, such as we saw in the Gulf of Mexico last fall, is enough to prompt a massive spike in gas prices.
Some power producers bought the gas story hook, line and sinker in the ‘90s and built huge gas-fired power plant capacity. Those companies are now feeling the pinch of higher commodity pricing. Calpine Corp, for example, recently was forced to declare bankruptcy even though demand for power remains strong in the US.
Natural gas isn't just a US or North American issue. Europe, too, is dangerously dependant on gas-fired power generation and Asia faces emerging supply constraints. Check out the chart “The Global Gas Crunch.”
Source: BP 2005 Statistical Review
This chart depicts the difference between natural gas consumption and production for several different regions of the world. North American gas consumption only exceeds production by roughly 3 billion cubic feet per day. The US is quite obviously the biggest consumer in the region, while Canada has traditionally had excess production to export to the US market.
The North American gas problem is getting bigger. Canada's gas production is at or near its peak; US gas production has already peaked. Unconventional gas sources, such as Texas's Barnett Shale, will make the speed of production declines rather shallow. However, rapidly rising demand in both Canada and the US will necessitate rising imports of gas from abroad. That spells rising imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the coming years.
To calculate Europe's gas gap, I excluded Russian production (and consumption) of gas. Here we can see that the European gas gap is much larger than America's--nearly 24 billion cubic feet of gas per day must be imported into Europe to meet demand.
The vast majority of that supply comes from Russia, a country with the world's largest reserves of gas. Much of this gas can be transported by pipeline into Europe.
But recent events show that Russian supply disruptions can produce some major headaches for all of Europe. Early in 2006, Russia reduced the flow of gas through Europe's most important pipeline as a result of a pricing dispute with the Ukraine. This resulted, however, in significant reductions in gas flows into Western Europe. It's widely suspected that the Ukraine “stole” Russian natural gas during this dispute.
More recently, Russia has once again reduced the flow of gas through the pipeline. This time, the reason is not political but weather-related: While the US is enjoying a mild winter, Europe is experiencing a record cold snap. Moscow has seen several days of temperatures as low as –30 degrees Fahrenheit. Budapest, Hungary and Vienna, Austria, among others, have seen temperatures consistently 10 to 20 degrees below normal.
The problem is Russia's demand for natural gas has been steadily rising as temperatures fall--demand for heating is on the rise. That means some of the gas that would normally be exported to Europe is instead being consumed domestically. Hungary, for example, is reporting gas volumes 20 to 25 percent below normal while Italy is reporting roughly a 10 to 15 percent volume drop-off. Meanwhile, both Italy and Hungary have seen huge jumps in demand for gas this winter amid unseasonably cold weather.
This situation is exacerbated by Russia's own gas price controls. As domestic natural gas prices are heavily subsidized in Russia, domestic demand for natural gas is likely far higher than it otherwise would be. Nonetheless, it's pure folly to think that Russia won't cover her own gas needs ahead of the European Union's.
Finally, we come to Asia. Asia's position is currently rather similar to America's. While the gas gap isn't that large in real terms, it's growing rapidly. Japan, India and China are already major importers of gas and rapid economic growth in the latter two countries spells steadily rising demand. China recently announced that it's quite unlikely to meet its targets for new natural gas plant construction. The reason is simple: The country doesn’t have enough import capacity to satisfy gas demand.
There are two implications of the global gas crunch. One, natural gas is fast becoming, like oil already is, a globally traded commodity. Gone are the days when a region such as North America or Europe could look at natural gas as a domestic market. This means that India, China, Europe and the US will be competing for the same global supplies of gas. This spells higher prices and will be a boon to companies (or countries) with large reserves of gas for export.
And two, the naïve view that we can rely on clean burning gas to meet all the globe's power needs has been exposed as farcical. This opens the door to other fuels. In particular, I see turmoil in the natural gas markets as a major catalyst for nuclear and coal-fired power.
© 2006 Elliott H. Gue
Editorial Archive
http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/gue/2006/0120.html
Spencer...????? CEO's of real companies don't sit around watching the stock pps unless they are interested in dumping a bunch of shares. I would bet if you could call 10 CEO's of any Nas or NYSE company, 9 of them couldn't tell you at what price their stock closed at on the day.... Most CEO's take care of business knowing the company's stock will follow the fundamentals......up, if they do a good job, and down if they don't.... If these HISC guys are on the ball and aren't diluting, they should care less what the pps is doing on a day to day basis.
3. A penny shaved (exerpt):
"Progressive was never a penny stock trading below $1 per share. Future 10- and 100-baggers are most often trading between $5 and $50 per share (at least the ones we care about). They're rarely below $5, and they certainly aren't below $1.
Penny stocks represent ultra-tiny companies whose shares can easily be manipulated by unscrupulous people misrepresenting the businesses' true potential. In short, stay away from stocks that aren't traded on one of the major U.S. markets (the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, or American Stock Exchange), or that have no revenues, or that are obviously being hyped via email or discussion boards. You'll save yourself a ton of grief."
The rest of the article.....
http://www.fool.com/news/commentary/2006/commentary06012008.htm?source=eptyholnk303100&logvisit=...
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride...IGT 35 calls ranged from $0.20 to $1.45, got out at $1.15 at lunch time. First time I've traded options on the expiration date! Crazy!!!!! Closed at $0.35....
This is the part FASC has trouble with:
5)KDS are ordered/sold based on what happens above
Like I said, from tests to the real world is a HUGE step....
even with "good" results...
Jersey...way to go!!! You should at least get an X-mas card this year from the dumpers!!!!
Link finally worked, nice write-up....so what? Unless the products proposed are cheaper than standard materials and at least equal in consistant quality....?????? How many KDS's will be ordered???? Tests don't always assure success in the real world.....IMO. Could be just like the chicken poop potential, etc, etc.,....
I couldn't get beischens' link to work....maybe 10,000 lurkers clicked at the same time!!!! LOL!!!!
TRCPA...why did you delete your contact info post?? Were you afraid I would call them????
Maybe they don't get a lot of customers from Jordan in the retail store......
Came home and found my IGT Jan 35 calls up over 200%!!! Talk about down to the wire, they expire today!!! Had a good earnings report... I think I'll splurge and have TWO hot dogs tonight!!!! LOL!!!
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=IGXAG.X&d=t
Sorry to be a detriment here, but where's the WRAP report and shouldn't there be something "soon" from the DOE or U of T grass clippings study????
naik...both, lack of major sales and dilution, plus delays in OTC listing and export license. Barchart follows the trend, and may be an indicator of an oversold situation when they say "sell"...BUT it depends on your other DD and sector moves to decide if to buy or not.
For example, you may have selected a potentially great growth stock, but the sector may have a pullback hurting the stock pps....if you've done your other DD you could see a buying op. See charts on SMSI, GW, GLW, NGAS....good companies and sectors.....I have bought shares near their lows in the past year based on sector moves and my DD....
Also pink sheet PR's must be taken with a grain of salt, IMO... HISC saying $55 million in revs next year is BS, IMO, too many "IF's" involved.... So it's tough to be able to do credible DD...
BTW, the big miss by analysts on SLB tells me that they are way under-estimating the sector and there are still some good value buys out there, IMO....
Credible TA depends on a fairly fixed number of shares, so a diluting pinkie is tough to TA, IMO... A spike in volume and not much pps move is much like institutional selling on a non-diluting Nas or NYSE company except instead of institutions it's the company dumping shares via "shares paid for services", etc..... BTW, in many cases when Barchart says "sell" that's the time to buy and vice versa.....depending on the company....
GE and C earnings miss....
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/060120/markets_stocks.html?.v=2
But SLB kicks azz!!! And split announced....oil/gas/metals rule!!
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060120/20060120005114.html?.v=1